


woes of the fraternal kind

by nebulousviolet



Category: Harry Potter - J.K Rowling
Genre: (sort of), Coming Out, Multi, can be read as a standalone, even tho i’m british i can tell, once again FUCK the cursed child rose is a slytherin and scorbus are gryffindors, serious overuse of the word snogging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-26 20:39:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16688458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nebulousviolet/pseuds/nebulousviolet
Summary: “On his neck?” Albus asked, amused. James was beginning to tire - it was clear he was only going to get information on Scorpius’s sex life, and he wasn’t interested in that at all. “How stupid do you think people are, Imogen? Who falls on their neck?”“It could happen,” Imogen said primly. “Lots of uneven paths in Hogwarts, you know. Easy to trip. It’s not like people are going to immediately think Scorpius is shagging someone, are they? He’s Scorpius. And I won’t answer your first question. I’m a Slytherin.”(James just wants to find out who Albus is snogging after his girlfriend messes up. He gets rather more than he bargained for.)





	woes of the fraternal kind

**Author's Note:**

> hi yes no actual shagging or other sexual shenanigans take place because i have pride in myself still and also people i know irl read this shit but there is various mentions of shagging so thats just a quick warning.  
> you dont need to read my other fic ‘a ball to remember’ to read this but it’ll help if u just think imogen is a randomer lol

To say James Potter was over the moon was perhaps an exaggeration, but he couldn’t really think of another way to describe the feeling of kissing his girlfriend, Imogen Rivers. Come to think of it, he couldn’t exactly think of much at all - apart from Imogen’s long, bleached-blonde hair and pouting lips. It tended to be like that, with Imogen. She drove him bloody mad; she was cold as ice one minute, and all over him the next. Not that he minded the latter, of course, he just wished she’d be a bit more consistent. Most girls were like that, from James’s experience. It didn’t mean that it got any less annoying.

“Careful,” Imogen breathed, pulling away from him. Where were they again? He’d met her after she had Charms (much to his chagrin, Cassian Nott had  _ snorted  _ at him when he saw James waiting for her. Snorted! He needed to talk to Imogen about how rude her fellow Slytherin friends were), then they’d taken a walk in the grounds, started snogging...they were just outside Hagrid’s hut. It was a good thing Hagrid was in Bulgaria with some giant friends of his; James wasn’t quite sure he’d be able to handle the shame if his parents received a letter from Hagrid explaining that he’d caught their eldest son feeling up his girlfriend outside his house, and James was rather shameless. “If we get caught again, Antimony’s threatened to give me a detention. Says it doesn’t behoove a member of the Slytherin house to be out slobbering over boys during O.W.Ls.”

“She did not say the word behoove,” James snorted. Professor Antimony was a no-nonsense woman who taught Transfiguration, and he’d had the delight of being taught by her all the way up until his own O.W.Ls (he’d scraped his grade of Exceeded Expectation, as Antimony was so kind to remind him whenever she saw him waiting for his N.E.W.T Transfiguration lesson with the far kinder Professor Bismulah). “And you know she was just dying to say  _ Gryffindor  _ boys in particular.”

“I swear on my life she did,” Imogen grinned back. She was very lively when she smiled - Imogen had not been blessed with a naturally upbeat-looking face, but she always seemed ten times more happy than everyone else when she smiled. “What can I say? You’re corrupting me.”

James was dying to point out that if any Potter had corrupted her, it was her close friend - and his brother - Albus, but he held his tongue. Imogen got rather defensive about Albus. James couldn’t for the life of him figure out why. Instead, he kissed her again, feeling the slip and slide of her strawberry lipgloss sticking to his mouth. Yes, out of all the girls he’d kissed, so far he liked kissing Imogen the most, and not just because he didn’t have to bend down to get remotely on her level.

“I mean it,” Imogen wrenched away from him, still laughing. “If Cassian or Scorpius or - God forbid -  _ Albus  _ find us, I’ll never hear the end of it, even though I’ve walked in on Albus  _ loads  _ of times with-“

The colour drained from Imogen’s face as she realised what she was about to say, and she clammed up. James poked her side.

“Walked in on Albus with who?” he pressed, but Imogen was already jogging off to the castle. “Imogen!”

“Pretend I didn’t say that!” she yelled back, and then she was gone.

 

*

 

“And then she goes and runs off, and won’t talk to me for the rest of the night!” James complained to his dormmates. “You’d tell me if you knew if Albus was snogging anyone, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes, James,” the room chorused rather tiredly. James had been ranting about this all night, but he couldn’t help it. His girlfriend and his little brother, keeping secrets from him! Although to be fair, she  _ had  _ been friends with Albus first-

“Why don’t you just ask your brother?” Atticus wondered, squinting down at his Charms work. Atticus was entirely too sensible for James’s taste. Merlin, they’ll be doing homework on time next. “I mean, maybe he’s just waiting for you to ask.”

James scoffed. “Yeah, right. Albus never tells me anything.”

“Probably ‘cos instead of asking him about his girlfriend, you’re planning on interrogating  _ your  _ girlfriend about it because she’s coincidentally his best friend,” Atticus said. “I wouldn’t tell you owt either, if I were him.”

James threw a pillow at Atticus’s head. “You ask him, then.”

“No!”

 

*

 

“Imogen,” he yelled after her. She’d been ignoring him all day, brushing past him as he waited for her to finish Muggle Studies and steadfastly pretending he didn’t exist as she ate with Albus and Scorpius. And now it was dinner, and he missed her, so James summoned all his athletic prowess and sprinted after her. “Imogen!”

She was walking with Cassian Nott, the bastard. Both he and his sister - the captivating seventh year Astrid - were tall and lithe, with cat-like golden eyes, olive-brown skin and shiny black hair like an oil spill. Cassian had  _ also  _ been taking Imogen to the Yule Ball until things ‘didn’t work out’, to quote Imogen, and Imogen and James got together instead. So yeah, it was a bit of an affront to James’s pride to see his girlfriend walking around the castle with her ex-whatever, especially when said girlfriend had been  _ ignoring  _ him.

“Imogen,” he panted, and she glanced over her shoulder at him through thick dark lashes. “Come on, talk to me.”

“Will you promise to be normal?” Imogen asked warily. Cassian, long and thin and annoying, just stood there. James nodded. “Alright. Cassian, you can piss off now.”

“Thank fuck,” Cassian yawned. “Have fun.”

He sashayed, almost - James didn’t know how to describe it - down to his common room, and James scowled after him.

“Didn’t he dump you?”

“Cassian? No. I just made that up. Are all Potters as dense you?” Imogen said, leaning against the wall. “Sorry for ignoring you, but I heard from your little Gryffindor mates that you were gonna interrogate me, and, you know. It’s not my place.”

“I don’t care,” lied James, even though he was  _ dying  _ to know who Albus was snogging on the side. “If I wanted to know what - or who - my brother’s doing, I’d ask.”

“As if you ask Albus anything,” Imogen scoffed. “And don’t lie to me, I’ve had nearly four years of Albus exclusively complaining to me and then an additional year of him sugarcoating his complaints.

“See, Imy, you know him best,” James nodded. “ _ So, _ why don’t you tell me?”

She rolled her eyes. “You just said if you wanted to know, you’d ask him!”

“I never said I’d ask _him_ ,” James defended. “I just said I’d  _ ask _ . And I’m asking you. Are you gonna tell me or not, Imy?”

“I’m not,” Imogen said. “Just forget I said anything. And if you do ask Albus, don’t you dare say you learned anything from me, or I’ll get hexed into next week.”

“I get it, I get it,” James said. “Friends before your boyfriend who is also your friend’s older brother. Can I kiss you now?”

Imogen considered this. “Yeah, alright then.”

 

*

 

“Al, can I have a word?” James asked, sauntering into the Gryffindor common room. His brother was curled up against Scorpius, reading some Muggle book or another, and Imogen was attempting to pay a seventh year to turn her hair pink. “In private?”

“Oh no you don’t,” Imogen said rather fiercely, snapping her head up. The sandy-haired seventh year jumped in alarm. “I haven’t spent time with Albus and Scorpius in ages. Come back tomorrow.”

“Who’s fault is that?” Scorpius murmured, his voice muffled from where his face was pressed up against the crushed velvet couch, and Imogen turned a fetching pink. “But Imy’s right. Come back later, if you want.”

“Yes,” Albus agreed, three against one. “Go away. I’m reading.”

“I can see that,” James observed. He took a good look at his brother - a proper look.  _ Was _ Albus seeing someone? He’d finally hit his growth spurt over the summer, rendering him a head above Imogen at last (she’d complained about it bitterly), and now his sharp cheekbones no longer seemed too gaunt for his face, or his messy black hair too thick and dark. It wasn’t impossible for someone to find his younger brother attractive, James thought begrudgingly. Still, Albus was joined at hip to Scorpius, and James also thought that most girls would find the idea of a mostly codependent boyfriend to be a pain in the arse. Imogen would think so, anyway, and Imogen was the only girl that he wasn’t related to whose opinion James fully trusted. “I’m going to bed.”

“Cracking idea, Jamie,” replied Albus, still entranced in his book. Imogen had finally gotten the seventh year to charm her hair a bright bubblegum pink. And Scorpius - well, James never had a clue what was going on in that kid’s head. His dad had told him about how insufferable Draco Malfoy had been at school, but Scorpius was only ever nice, if not a little...kooky. Merlin knew how he’d ended up befriending someone as grouchy as Albus. “Talk to you later.”

James went as if to climb the stairs, and once he knew Albus and Imogen’s attention had slipped from him (Scorpius’s face was still pressed into the couch - James doubted he could see anything) he crouched in the corner and cast an Audio Enhancing charm. A few first years gave him funny looks, but Lily was too old for her to listen if any of them came running to report that her older brother was acting strange.

“I’m sorry,” he heard Imogen say. “I’m really, really sorry, Albus, it just slipped out and I feel really bad, will you forgive me?”

“Course he will,” Scorpius said, and James saw him sit up. Were his eyes deceiving him, or was that a hickey on his neck? How odd. Scorpius prodded Albus. “Course you will, won’t you, Albus?”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re forgiven,” Albus conceded. “If only because I’ve never heard you grovel before. Is that another little-known Slytherin talent you’ve been hiding, Imy?”

“I have to keep you on your toes somehow,” Imogen laughed, and James’s heart went  _ thump-thump.  _ No, he scolded himself. Now wasn’t really the time to start mooning over Imogen. There was mischief to be managed and brother’s girlfriends to discover. “Do you think Antimony’s going to kill me for my hair? I’m not doing another detention, I nearly broke my wrist scrubbing Albus’s dad’s 1993 Quidditch cup. For a school of magic, there’s an awful lot of elbow grease involved.”

“She won’t,” Scorpius reassured, patting her shoulder comfortingly. “Even if she does, she won’t give you a detention for it. Nobody said anything about this- _ thing  _ on my neck, and it was a lot worse this morning than it is now.”

“You can say hickey,” Imogen said, bored. “I won’t tell Malfoy Sr. Besides, that’s different. I bet everyone just assumed you fell, or something.”

“On his  _ neck _ ?” Albus asked, amused. James was beginning to tire - it was clear he was only going to get information on  _ Scorpius’s  _ sex life, and he wasn’t interested in that at all. “How stupid do you think people are, Imogen? Who falls on their neck?”

“It could happen,” Imogen said primly. “Lots of uneven paths in Hogwarts, you know. Easy to trip. It’s not like people are going to immediately think Scorpius is shagging someone, are they? He’s Scorpius. And I won’t answer your first question. I’m a Slytherin.”

“I’m not shagging someone  _ yet.  _ And I don’t suppose you’ve used this falling excuse for whatever James does to you, either,” Scorpius said. “But that’s probably because you’re the least subtle couple in the world.”

James wasn’t in the mood to listen in on a retelling of  _ his  _ sex life, either. He removed the charm, and ran up to his dorm to go unsuccessfully scrub his mind of Scorpius Malfoy and hickeys.

In his dorm, Atticus, Julian, Ezra and Carter were playing a riotous game of Exploding Snap. James was getting the beginning of a headache as he surveyed them all, and decided to crawl into bed and get a headstart on his Potions coursework. Why was he taking Potions, again? Oh, yes - become an Auror, follow in his dad’s footsteps, live up to the Potter name. That was why. His headache was steadily getting worse as he scratched out the various properties of boomslang skin when combined with armadillo shell. Perhaps he should see Madam Pomfrey. No - what if Scorpius and Albus were still down there, discussing Scorpius’s sex life? James shuddered. Best to wait it out.

“James? Are you still sulking about your girlfriend?” Julian called. “I saw her with Nott earlier.”

“I’m not sulking,” James yelled back. “And so did I. Apparently he never asked her to the Yule Ball at all! I can’t believe I nearly blew up his dorm for nothing.”

“Come join the game,” Carter invited, and, actually, James thought that that was the best idea he’d heard all night. He shoved his books away and decided to join them.

 

*

 

“It’s tomorrow,” James announced, sitting opposite his brother at breakfast. Albus didn’t look too bothered - he was buttering his toast with mild disinterest. Scorpius was nowhere to be seen, which was strange, and Imogen was eating at her own table for once, so they truly were alone, or as alone as they could be on a Monday morning. “Time to talk.”

“I’m so excited,” Albus deadpanned. He was still buttering his toast. There was rather a lot of butter on his toast now. James wondered if Albus was purposely trying to avoid eye contact with him. “Go on. This better not be about Imogen, by the way. I spent enough time discussing your love life last year.”

His voice was unnecessarily sharp, and James frowned. As if he would do that, anyway. Albus had made it very clear that there was a line between James’s girlfriend-Imogen and Albus’s best friend-Imogen.

“It’s not about Imogen,” James said, a little wounded. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Imogen swish her newly-pink hair and glance over at them before turning back to her conversation with Rose and Cassian. “It’s about you. Is there anything you want to tell me, Al?”

Albus examined him coolly. His eyes were very cold and very dark, like bottle glass. He wasn’t eating his overly-buttered toast, and James had a feeling - call it a brotherly premonition - that his high-strung mood had nothing to do with Imogen at all.

“You’re the one who wanted to talk to me,” he said, lowering his gaze again and attacking his toast with strawberry jam. Albus didn’t even  _ like  _ jam. “I mean, I’m not thick, Jamie. This is about you. Hurry up and ask whatever you want to ask.”

James swallowed. “Imy might’ve told you-“

“You said this wasn’t about Imogen.” Albus was harsh. 

“Al. Please. Imy accidentally mentioned something about walking in on you with someone and, alright, as your brother I want to know who the lucky girl is. Or do you not have a girlfriend?”

Albus smiled bitterly. “I don’t have a girlfriend, James,” he said. “That I can promise. Are you done?”

James deflated. “Al-“

“I’m leaving,” Albus said. He threw his toast back onto his plate, untouched. “Imy told you to leave it alone, but you had to push it. You can’t just micromanage my life when it suits you, James. The real world doesn’t work like that.”

Albus stormed away.

 

*

 

“Al is in a mood with me,” James complained to his little sister. Lily was plaiting her hair over and over, her red hair reminding James so much of his Weasley cousins. “At least you’re still my angel baby Lulu.”

“Don’t call me that,” Lily huffed. “I’m only here because you’re my favourite...and also because I’ve fallen out with Roslyn. At least Albus could’ve helped me with my Arithmancy homework. Why didn’t  _ you _ take Arithmancy, Jamie?”

James ignored her, too busy feeling righteously angry to care about Lily’s various friendship dramas. Not that it meant much anyway, since Lily was always surrounded by a gaggle of other Gryffindor third years, much like James. “All I did was ask him if he had a girlfriend,” he continued. “I mean, Imy told me to ask him! And then he spouts all this bullshit - sorry - about it being about  _ me  _ when I have a perfectly nice girlfriend, thank you very much, and then he flounces out like a six year old!”

“Yeah, I saw that part,” Lily said, skimming a stone over the Black Lake’s surface. It sank immediately. “And you know I don’t like Imogen, so don’t expect much sympathy there. Hey, maybe he’s dating Scorpius.”

James bristled at the Imogen comment, then snorted. “As if. I think I’d know if my own brother was gay,” he said, and then paused and looked at his sister. Lily threw another rock into the pond, not even bothering to attempt at a skim. “Lily, Albus isn’t gay, is he?”

Lily shrugged dramatically in her usual thirteen year old fashion. “I don’t know,” she said. “It’s just...they’re a bit clingy, aren’t they? Like you and Imogen, except less snogging.”

“Please don’t say snogging,” James said delicately. “It’s not right coming from my baby sister.”

“I’m fourteen next month,” Lily pointed out. “When you were in third year, you were doing a lot worse than saying the word  _ snog _ . Mum sent so many Howlers that Albus ended up owling her to ask her to stop on your behalf. She never actually told me what you were doing, but Mum once swore to never send a Howler, so it must’ve been bad.”

James bolted upright. His mum! How could he have forgotten? Yes, he would owl Mum and she would know what to do about this whole Albus mess, and then he could go catch Imogen before one of her O.W.L revision sessions. Everything would work out, and maybe he’d even find out who Albus’s secret girlfriend was. Because, of course….Albus couldn’t be going out with Scorpius.

Could he?

No.

“I’m going to the owlery,” he told Lily. “Unless you’ll lend me Vivi?”

Vivi was Lily’s pet tawny owl. She’d helped raise her from being a chick, and was very overprotective of her. James didn’t have his own owl - after his ill-fated shenanigans in first and second year, his parents had been wary about allowing him near-unmonitored means of communication. They didn’t need to worry about that with Albus or Lily, although from what James could tell, Albus just used Scorpius’s owl Apollo and  _ Imogen  _ used Albus’s owl Saffy. 

Lily crossed her arms. “Will you stop bitching about Al if I say yes?”

“I promise,” James said. And then, “Lulu, don’t you dare swear! I’m still your big brother!”

 

*

 

Mum’s letter did a fat lot of good. All it was was a written lecture on how James should respect Albus’s boundaries, and how  _ yes, she’d heard about that terrible mark he’d gotten on his Potions essay _ , and finally a reminder not to distract Imogen too much with her O.W.Ls coming up. If James wanted a lecture, he would’ve talked to Rose or Professor Antimony.

“We’ve got to stop snogging in corridors,” Imogen said, and James concentrated on his girlfriend once more. The pink dye had faded - she’d complained bitterly about what a waste of a galleon it’d been - and her dark roots were peeking out from her usual bottle blonde. “No, really. It’s bad enough with Antimony, but I think I just saw Professor Longbottom, and I know he’s mates with your dad.”

“Neville’s cool,” James said. “He wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“Yeah, but I’d have to live with that for the rest of my life,” Imogen winced. O.W.L prep was draining her - there were greyish circles underneath her bright green eyes, and she seemed more tired that usual. “He’d be so nonjudgmental, I’d feel judged.”

James nodded and squeezed her hand. Imogen cocked her head at him. “You’re not really listening, are you?” she asked. “I know you’re still a bit cut up about Albus being short with you. But Albus is going through kind of a tough time right now. Emotionally, I mean. You can’t take it personally, James. He just - Albus has always sort of felt like a bit of an outcast. It’s a complex of his, and I say that in the kindest way possible.”

“I know,” James said, swinging her arm as they shuffled through the Astronomy Tower. “I mean. Al and I don’t always see eye to eye. But he’s my brother. Of course I want to know who he’s going out with, and that sort of thing. Him being a twat to me won’t help.”

Imogen sighed, and he could tell she was struggling not to say something by the way she was fiddling with her Slytherin tie over and over. “I- Look. Theoretically speaking, Albus may or may not be quite upset about you assuming that he has a  _ girl _ friend, and, even more theoretically speaking, he’s even more upset that you’re acting like a prat about him getting mad at you. And, honestly, it’s quite exhausting having to deal with two sulky teenage boys, especially when I fancy one of them, so if I were you, I’d apologise and talk to him properly.”

Then she looked him dead in the eye and said, “But this is all theoretical, and I never actually said anything, of course.”

“Of course,” agreed James. “For a Slytherin, you’re remarkably good at this sort of thing.”

“What sort of thing?” Imogen asked with faux confusion. “Having some common sense? Groundbreaking.”

He rolled his eyes. “Ha-ha. But, uh, thanks. I’ll talk to him properly this time. With sensitivity.”

She grinned. “Good! Now, seriously, about the whole snogging in corridors thing…”

 

*

 

“Al, come on, let’s talk,” James said. Albus was still steadfastly ignoring him. “Albus, please. I’m getting worried.”

Albus sighed. “Imogen said something, didn’t she?”

“I begged her to,” James said. “Obviously that didn’t work, but still. I’m really glad she did say something, because I’d still have no bloody clue what to do, otherwise. So come on, Albus. Talk.”

Albus set aside his book and looked his brother in the eye. James had always thought that he resembled his sister the most, but up close, he could see himself in Albus, too. “I don’t have a girlfriend,” Albus reiterated, then took a deep breath. “James, I- I’m gay.”

“Oh,” said James, who was sort of expecting this but was still somehow surprised. He inherited that from his father. “I-wow. I wasn’t- _ wow.  _ Well, you know I’m here for you and all that.”

“Thanks,” said Albus, who looked like he was either constipated or in excruciating pain. “Um. Yeah. I told Mum just before Imogen asked you out but, uh, that’s it. And also,” Albus swallows again.

“You don’t have to,” James said, because Albus was beginning to worry him a little bit. 

“No, it’s fine,” Albus shook his head. “Imy told me that I should make myself more emotionally available. So, also...I’m dating Scorpius.”

James recoiled instantly. So he  _ had  _ been listening in on Albus’s sex life after all, except he’d just been hearing the other half of it. Lovely. Great. Wonderful. James wanted to delete that memory even more now, but if anything it just appeared even more vivid.

“That bad?” Albus asked timidly.

“No, it’s just,” James immediately decided against confessing his spying. “Nevermind. I’m happy for you! I really am! Does Mum know about Scorpius too, then?”

“Merlin, no,” Albus shook his head. “No. Her and Dad are anti-Malfoy as it is. Do you really think me telling them that I’m shagging one would warm them up to him? Do you really?”

“Probably not,” James admitted.

Albus nodded gravely. “See, so now you know. Please literally never get involved in my sex life or indeed my life at school at all ever again, okay, thank you, bye!”

James felt a bit cheated. All that, just for Scorpius Malfoy?

 

He decided to go snog Imogen.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> please comment and leave kudos!! ty <33


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